- Toyota found a way to downsize the typical consumer hydrogen tank.
- Its portable hydrogen cartridges are small enough to be carried like a backpack.
- In theory, they could power anything from stoves to cars. When they're empty, they can just be replaced or refilled.
Fuel cell electric vehicles or FCEVs were supposed to be the future. No harmful emissions coming out of the tailpipe and a refueling process as easy as getting gas in a conventionally powered car–that was the promise. Instead, owning a hydrogen-powered car is a miserable experience, as we–and other outlets–found out earlier this year.
The refueling infrastructure is crumbling and owners are filing lawsuits and calling for buybacks of their clean EVs. However, Toyota, which is still pushing for broader adoption of hydrogen-fueled vehicles as part of its so-called “multi-pathway approach,” might have the solution to the problem it might have inadvertently created in the first place.
Instead of waiting in line to top up your hydrogen-powered Mirai, wouldn’t it be nice if you could just change out the hydrogen tanks at home the same way you would change the depleted batteries in an alarm clock? That’s exactly the idea behind Toyota’s new portable hydrogen cartridges.
Gallery: Toyota Portable Hydrogen Cartridges
In theory, they could power anything from camp stoves to an entire house, seeing how hydrogen can be used either as a combustible fuel or an energy source for fuel cells like the ones in Toyota's own Mirai or Hyundai's Nexo. The cartridges are much smaller and lighter than what's currently available in production FCEVs–about as big as a big camping backpack–and the idea is you could just swap them out when they're empty, like propane tanks.
Toyota didn't say how much hydrogen one cartridge could store, but the label on the computer-generated images says 4.7 liters and a pressure of 525 bar. At a temperature of 32 degrees, that equates to a grand total of 161 grams of hydrogen. A second-generation Toyota Mirai has a total capacity of 5.65 kilograms, so you would need no fewer than 35 cartridges to get the same quantity of hydrogen. Not ideal, but more work could be done to improve on the formula.
Toyota said the portable tanks are designed “to make hydrogen a familiar and safe energy source that can be used in a variety of everyday situations.” The first application that puts this idea to good use is a hydrogen-powered cooker developed with Rinnai Corporation, which was on display during Japan Mobility Show Bizweek 2024 which ran until last Friday.
Although Toyota’s downsized hydrogen tanks aren’t mass-produced yet, the company said it’s looking for start-ups and other partners to further develop and sell the battery-like cartridges. In other words, it could be a while until we’ll see a hydrogen-powered car with replaceable fuel cartridges on the road. But one can dream, right?
